Master Storyteller Norman Rockwell

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norman_Rockwell_1.jpg

Norman Rockwell was born in New York City on February 3, 1894. His grandfather was a starving artist who immigrated from England.  His father, who also liked to draw, used to read to the family at the dinner table.  With his sketchbook and pencil in hand, Norman would sketch the characters that his father described in Charles Dickens' works.

As an adult, Norman dreamed of painting covers for the Saturday Evening Post, a magazine he would later call "the greatest show window in America".  He submitted "Boy with Baby Carriage" in 1916 to the magazine, starting a relationship that would last 47 years and include 300-plus covers.

A look at a Norman Rockwell gallery is a look at the 20th Century history of America.  It starts with "Excuse My Dust", the painter's portrayal of an early automobile in 1920.  He painted "Wonders of Radio" in 1922 to highlight Marconi's invention.  "Charles Lindbergh's Flight" shows the aviator's first trans-Atlantic flight in the 1930's.  Next came "Rosie the Riveter", focussing on women wartime factory workers in 1943.  "War Bond" helped sell war bonds to America in 1944.  Another invention was illustrated in 1949 with "New TV Set".  As Rockwell explained:  "Without thinking about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed." (http://www.nrm.org/about/about-2/about-norman-rockwell/) "

The American themes continued in the 1950's.  Rockwell's religious upbringing influenced his painting "Saying Grace" from 1951.  "Choir Boy" from 1954 uses beautiful colours.  With another child as his subject, he painted "Before the Shot", a little boy getting a needle in the doctor's office, in 1958.  "The Problem We All Live With", about the integration of a young black girl into an all white school accompanied by the National Guard, focusses on Civil Rights.  The following year Rockwell painted "Southern Justice:  Murder in Mississippi" which I suspect is about the slaying of the three Civil Rights activists.  Lastly, Rockwell's Christian faith was evident again in his piece "Uneasy Christmas in the Birthplace of Christ (Christmas Eve in Bethlehem)" from 1970.

In his long lifetime, Rockwell painted 4000 paintings.  He painted every day except Christmas, when he only worked half a day.  "Every painting is a new adventure," he explained, suggesting that perhaps that is why he lived such a long life.  "[Artists] are always looking ahead to something new and exciting.  The secret is to not look back."  (http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/american-art-biographies/norman-rockwell).

Norman Rockwell in his studio with the recently painted Saying Grace courtesy
http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/famous0613.htm.

Palestinian Immigrant Gertrude Liebman

"Gertrude would save the apricot pits because she had heard if she rubbed them she could make chewing gum.  Disappointed that her experiment failed, she buried the pits in the backyard.  It was long before an apricot tree grew there." (Gertrude Liebman)

Apricot tree branch courtesy https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-dried-apricot.html.

Gertrude Liebman was born in Montefiore outside of the old city of Jerusalem.  Her father, not wanting to be drafted into the army during the First World War, hid in an attic for two months, then immigrated to America.  Gertrude's strongest memory of her father was at a seder, after which they read the Hagadah and sang all of the Passover songs.  Her father showered the young five year old with compliments.

Gertrude's mother had to eke out a living for her four children during the next three years.  She was very resourceful.  Gertrude's mother baked bread which she sold in the neighbouring Arab village.  Soldiers who deserted the army would stop at their house for a short stay.  They would leave their army blankets which Gertrude's mother would make into coats and sell them.  Gertrude's mother woul dpick apricots from neighbourhood trees and make jam.  Gertrude would save the apricot pits because she had heard if she rubbed them she could make chewing gum.  Disappointed that her experiment failed, she buried the pits in the backyard.  It was long before an apricot tree grew there.

The family wanted to join their father in America and planned their trip.  The first thing they packed was their periner (featherbed) which came in handy later on when there were no berths available on the ship that took them across the Mediterranean.  They sailed to America aboard the Ryndam which departed from Cherbourg, France.  They were detained at Ellis Island; authorities suspected that Gertrude's older brother had trachoma.  

They settled in an apartment in Manhattan where Gertrude had to get to know her father all over again.  In the three years he had been in the United States, he had become Americanized.  He taught himself how to read and write English.  He found a job as a chicken slaughterer.  Gertrude found a new school on Lexington Avenue.  Their new life had begun.

Manhattan circa 1920's courtesy http://www.archdaily.com/783927/how-the-metlife-building-redefined-midtown-manhattan.

Syrian Immigrant James Habjian

"I saw men lined up against the wall and shot point blank." (James Habjian) 

Armenian civilians escorted by Ottoman soldiers to prison circa April 1915 courtesy http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Armenian_Genocide.

James Habjian was born in New York City.  At the age of 3, his parents decided to move to Bulgaria where his dad would make Oriental rugs.  His grandparents, on the other hand, chose to remain in the United States.  After three years of rug making his father tired of the business, and decided to return to America.  However, first he wanted to visit his sister in Turkey.  

Shortly after the family arrived in 1915, the Armenian Massacre occurred.  Turkish policemen came to their door and insisted that everyone get out.  They took James father with them.  James mother dressed him up as little girl so that they wouldn't take him, too.  James saw men lined up against the wall and shot point blank.  He saw women raped before his very eyes, too young to comprehend what was happening.  

James father was killed by the Turkish police.  James found out later that he had saved the lives of 30 Armenians.  His mother met a doctor and remarried.  The family travelled to Beirut where they stayed in an Armenian refugee camp for four months, waiting to secure visas.  From there, they travelled to Le Havre France where they boarded the S. S. Niagara.  

The ship arrived shortly before Christmas and anchored off of Brooklyn.  They took a small boat to Ellis Island.  "I remember they had a big Christmas tree there in the big building.  I didn't know what Christmas was.  I didn't know what a Christmas tree was.  They had a gathering, a lot of people and they sang Christmas songs."

When James told the immigration inspector that he was American, the inspector replied:  "You're crazy.  Get out of here!"  James grandfather, relieved to see his grandson, wrapped his arms around him.  James settled with his parents in a five story apartment building in New York City.  

Little immigrants in front of the Ellis Island Christmas tree circa 1920 courtesy http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-a-christmas-present-deportation-the-twisted-history-of-the-holidays-at-ellis-island.

Turkish Immigrant Osla Esen

"During the trip we had a very big storm.  The boat was rocking and big fishes, sharks, they used to jump almost on the boat.  People were afraid.  They [the Jewish people] started to pray and throw the matzo in the ocean to calm the sea.  It calmed down very well and thank God, we arrived at Ellis Island three weeks later." (Osla Esen)

Ankara, Turkey directorate building courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankara.

During the Spanish Inquisition, Jews were driven out of Spain.  Some, like Osla Esen's ancestors, settled in Turkey, which welcomed them.  Osla grew up in Ankara, Turkey in a modest home.  She and her siblings slept on a Turkish carpet in the kitchen.

When Osla's father met her mother, he said:  "She is the prettiest girl in town."  However, at ten years younger, she was not ready to marry.  Osla's mother made some delicious dishes:  borek (pastries stuffed with feta cheese and spinach), doner (thinly sliced lamb similar to the Greek gyro), manta (dumplings stuffed with chopped meat served in a garlic and yogurt sauce) and patlican (pureed eggplant).

Borek courtesy http://www.turkishyummies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Leek-Borek-Final.jpg.

Osla's father worked as a tinsmith soldering lamps.  He and Osla's mother owned a business in Ankara.  With great people skills, he worked well with the customers while with great math skills, she handled the books.

At home Osla and her family spoke Ladino, the Spanish spoken in Spain.  However, on the street they spoke Turkish.  At school, they learned a third language, French.

Osla's parents wanted a better opportunity for their children and decided to immigrate to America.  Osla's father made the trans-Atlantic passage in 1912.  The following year, Osla's mother, Osla and her siblings made the voyage.  They travelled in steerage on the Argentina.  Osla was seasick:  all she could keep down was bread and garlic.

"During the trip we had a very big storm.  The boat was rocking and big fishes, sharks, they used to jump almost on the boat.  People were afraid.  They [the Jewish people] started to pray and throw the matzo in the ocean to calm the sea.  It calmed down very well and thank God, we arrived at Ellis Island three weeks later."

The family settled in a Jewish neighbourhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  About a month or two after their arrival, Osla's father took them to see the Statue of Liberty.  Osla said:  "I remember staring out through her eyes to Manhattan in the distance."

Boy peeks through the crown of the Statue of Liberty courtesy http://i12bent.tumblr.com/page/1131.

Finnish Immigrants Murray, Isaac & Adelle Youman

"If you ever want to see Hell, take a boat in the middle of a hurricane in the middle of the Atlantic.  I was so sick that they had to tie me outside of the ship to keep me from going overboard.  I was watching waves that looked over a hundred feet high, the boat looked one quarter of its size." (Murray Youman)

Finnish ski troops in Northern Finland circa 1940 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War#/media/File:Finn_ski_troops.jpg. 

Isaac and Adelle Youman were born and raised in Helsinki, Finland.  Their brother, Murray, was born in Warsaw, Poland.  When their father, Herman, first set eyes on their mother, Greta, he said:  "She was the prettiest girl in town."  However, he was ten years older than her and she wasn't ready to marry.  

Herman was already working as a tailor at the age of fourteen; his employees were married men.  Later, Greta worked with him at their men's clothing factory.  The family lived in an upper middle class apartment with their parents, grandmother and uncle, along with two maids.  Isaac points out that, with their parents working all the time, they were brought up by the maids.  "We were a noisy Jewish family that spoke Yiddish as a primary language in Finland," explained Adelle.

While the family follolwed their Jewish religion, they also recognized the Christian traditions celebrated by their fellow Finns who were 99% Christian (Lutheran).  The siblings would go to the Helsinki synagogue to pray, three of only 2000 Jews in the city, but at home they would eat whatever they wanted.  

Murray remembers dodging bombs during the Finnish-Russian War. (also called the Winter War because it was fought on skis).  He saw his father dash into a burning building to save someone, only to have it blow up as soon as he emerged.  "Living next to a country which could swallow you up in no time at all was scary."  When Murray returned years later to get his birth certificate, he found that the hospital in which he had been born was destroyed during the war.  Adelle pointed out that it was the war that precipitated their immigration  Otherwise, they would not have left a country that had treated them so well for 12 years.  While they did not know English, America was safe:  free of pogroms, free of wars.

Herman and Greta only attended school for a few years.  As adults, they both signed up for night school.  While Herman quit shortly thereafter Greta stuck it out and received her high school diploma.  Adelle said that she was very bright, very gifted mathematically.  While Herman was had a knack for handling their customers, Adelle was the brains behind the business.  She took care of the books.

In 1940, the family decided to immigrate.  They took a train to Stockholm, Sweden, stopping every time their was an air raid, the passengers diving into the snow.  They took a second train to Oslo, NOrway where they boarded to the S. S. Bergensfjord.  The war was already underway and the trans-Atlantic crossing could have been a dangerous one.  The captain kept changing the flag on the ship to fool the submarines.   

To top it all off, the family experienced a hurricane.  "If you ever want to see Hell, take a boat in the middle of a hurricane in the middle of the Atlantic," explained Murray.  "I was so sick that they had to tie me outside of the ship to keep me from going overboard.  I was watching waves that looked over a hundred feet high, the boat looked one quarter of its size."

The boat reached America safely.  Murray reminisced:  "When I first saw it [the Statue of Liberty] I had tears in my eyes."  Because the family's papers were not in order, they were detained at Ellis Island for six weeks.  Segregated, Isaac and Adelle stayed with their mother while Murray stayed with their father.  Isaac remembers the Orientals being separated from the Causcasians, the officials fearful that the former would be bringing in infectious diseases.  In 1986, when the renovation started on the immigration station, Adelle asked her mother if she would like to visit.  "I'll never set foot there [Ellis Island] again."   

Settling in Brooklyn, it was the first time that the siblings had lived alongside Blacks.  Murray found it strange the divide between Blacks and Whites.  Across the street was a park filled with Black children playing.  Herman grabbed his kids, placed them right in the middle of the Black kids, and snapped a photo.

It was quite an adjustment for the family which was privileged enough to send their children to private schools back in Finland, and now they attended public schools.  While they lived as part of the upper middle class back home, they lived in a ghetto neighbourhood in Brooklyn.  Isaac remembers being made fun of for his heavy accent.  However, they persevered.  Today, all three siblings are professionals, happy to live in America.

Children playing hopskotch on a Brooklyn street circa 1950 courtesy http://iconsofnewyork.com/.

Swedish Immigrant Caren Lundgren

"There was a lot of immigration [to America] when I was a child.  We used to go down to the train and watch the train.  There was a train station where I lived in Mattmar.  The people leaving had wreaths of flowers around their necks because that was the end.  They would never see them again, you see?  So those were funeral flowers practically around their necks." (Caren Lundgren)

Swedish train station circa 1920 courtesy 

http://picclick.ca/SkurusundSwedenBoat-on-Soundc1901-06-311638169967.html.

Caren Lundgren was born in raised in Mattmar, Sweden, a settlement which consisted mainly of farmers.  Her father worked in the local mill.  She and her three younger brothers grew up in a modest house where they slept in the kitchen in the summer and the pantry in the winter.  They existed on fish as red meat was scarce.  

Caren finished school at 12 years of age.  She wanted to train to be a teacher, but had to wait until she was 16.  Her parents sent her to her grandparents house where she worked as a maid.  Her stingy grandfather, however, refused to pay her.  Caren longed to get out of the situation.  Her grandmother recommended:  "If I was a young girl, I would go to America."

That's exactly what Caren did.  "There was a lot of immigration [to America] when I was a child.  We used to go down to the train and watch the train.  There was a train station where I lived in Mattmar.  The people leaving had wreaths of flowers around their necks because that was the end.  They would never see them again, you see?  So those were funeral flowers practically around their necks."

In 1921, borrowing the passage money from her stingy grandfather, she packed her belongings in a square wooden box with a padlock, painted blue (perhaps for Sweden's flag).  Settled in steerage, Caren sailed on the M. S. Stockholm for America.  Arriving in New York Harbor, she waited three days until the immigration officials let the passengers disembark.  

Caren stayed for a few weeks at the Swedish Seaman's Home in New York City.  She secured a job as a kitchen maid in Long Island making $50 a week.  She worked with a Swedish cook who was insecure and took out her frustrations on Caren, calling her stupid every day.  Caren believed her.  She would wake up the next morning, her pillow soaked from the tears she had shed.

Caren was homesick for her family, but determined to stick it out.  "When I wrote home, I had to be so careful about getting tears on the paper.  I thought, 'I can't go back and admit i's so stupid.'  You know?  I was saving my money to pay back my grandfather and I did.  He couldn't understand how I could make that kind of money in such a short time."

Mercifully, Caren found another kitchen job and worked with a wonderful cook.  She saved enough money to visit her family twice, in 1926 and 1930.  They didn't have to wear the wreaths at the train station after all.

Villa Blue, a Long Island estate owned by Mr. Carter, circa 1910 courtesy http://www.oldlongisland.com/.

Portuguese Immigrant Roberta Estobar

"I certainly feel like I'm very much a part of the American dream." (Roberta Estobar)

Alto Douro wine region of Portugal courtesy http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1046.

Roberta Estobar was born and raised in Portugal where her father ran a rubber plantation.  Her mother taught school to the children of the plantation workers in a building with a dirt floor and tin roof.  Living in a subtropical country, they constantly battled mosquitoes.  Roberta contracted malaria and was treated with quinine.  Feverish, she alternated between hot flashes and cold sweats, on the verge of a coma.  The doctor recommended that she, along with her father who had also contracted the disease, leave the country.

Roberta's mother nursed her and her father on the boat ride to Portugal.  They settled in a suburb of Porto,  Once Roberta and her father's health returned, they used to dance in the kitchen to the church chimes.   Roberta played with her pet rabbits that she kept on their property.  The countryside surrounding Porto had lots of vineyards.  They would wash down the men's feet and legs and then the men would climb into giant vats and crush the grapes.

Wine treaders in Alto Douro region of Portugal courtesy 

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/treading-the-grapes.html.

Roberta's father commuted two hours to work in the bank in the city.  After three years, he realized there was no future in Portugal.  His brother in law kept urging him to come to America.  The family booked a cabin on the S. S. Olympic in 1925.  At Ellis Island, they gave Roberta biscuits and milk.  After a few months, her father found work at a New York City factory.  That day, he played the violin, an instrument he had first learned when he was seven years old.  Her mother was hired at the Ansonia Clock Factory.  The family settled in Brooklyn.

While they did live in an immigrant neighbourhood, Roberta's mother shopped at English speaking stores in order to learn the language.  Roberta quickly picked up English once she started school.  Mrs. Osley would look after Roberta when her parents were at work.  Mrs. Osley was the first one to pull Roberta in a sled; it was the native Brazilian's first snowfall.

At 21, Roberta voted for the first time, giving her father's citizenship number.  However, after hearing about a woman from Cuba denied the vote because she had been born in another country, she decided to pursue American citizenship.  "I certainly feel like I'm very  much a part of the American dream," explained Roberta.

Ansonia Clock made at the Brooklyn Factory which operated from 1851 to 2006 courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/482588916295733855/.